The day was the 17th of September, 1875. Bets were placed, and all eyes were watching and waiting with bated breath at Crab Orchard Park in Lexington, Kentucky. They craned their necks, with the hope to see, how the sport that involved riding horses at breakneck speed, would turn out. Imagine their shock, when the fourteen-year-old “ servant ” boy, Isaac Burns Murphy, riding Glentina, made it to the finish line before everyone else. “I heard he had bow legs, grandma, I bet those can hold onto a horse and not throw one down,” May said. Grandma chortled and continued, “ It wasn't just his bow legs and soft hands that got him the winner in races.” Isaac Murphy, born on a farm near Frankfort, Ky in 1861 to James Burns and a laundry woman, America, was a force to be reckoned with. “Uncle” Eli Jordan, an African-American and the best trainer in Fayette County, must have caught a glimpse of this for two years earlier, drawn by Murphy's small stature, started schooling Murphy as an exercise boy and putting him on the stable’s best runners. Isaac did not disappoint, for his Lexington win came to be the first of 628 wins. It is noted that Murphy won four of the first runnings of the American derby, the Latonia Derby five times, the Clark stakes in Louisville four times, and the Kentucky Derby three times. His Derby victory was not equaled until 1930 and not broken until 1948 and the standard he set is yet to be matched as Eddie Arcaro, recognized as the greatest 20th-century US jockey has a winning percentage of 22% and that's lower than Murphy's 44. It's no wonder that his amazing winning finishes were coined “Murphinishess”. Like any good story, Murphy's ended quite early with his death at 36 due to pneumonia. Isaac Murphy once said, “I am as proud of my calling as I am of my record, and I believe my life will be recorded a success, though the reputation I enjoy was earned in the stable and in the saddle. ” Indeed his life was recorded as a success for the was exhumed and buried at the Kentucky Horse Park, in addition to being the first American elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall Of Fame. And while we are still talking about sports, tomorrow I’ll tell you about the impact of Tom Smith and John Carlos on the 1968 Olympics.